


Shot Through the Heart

by ToonQueen



Series: Genieship AU [2]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Blood, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:20:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24011206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToonQueen/pseuds/ToonQueen
Summary: Gene is put in a position where he has to take care of Djinn while discovering the limits of his freed genie status.
Relationships: D'jinn/Gene the Genie (Disney: DuckTales)
Series: Genieship AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1731727
Comments: 7
Kudos: 32





	Shot Through the Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eyemeohmy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eyemeohmy/gifts).



> This takes place in an AU where Gene has been free for a while and has been traveling on adventures with Djinn and have newly become a relationship. This takes place shortly after my story "The Meaning of Love." Eyemeohmy helped beta this and also has the story "Into the Unknown" that you should check out too!

“I had been hoping the manticore was an intelligent creature that could be reasoned with,” Djinn said as he wiped off his blade before sheathing it at his hip. Gene was a short distance away, having provided a noisy distraction so Djinn could make the killing blow on the creature.

“I told you: if it has a tail with one poison tip, it can hold a conversation, but a tail with a ball shaped end with a ton of quills is really... a whole other species. Whoever wrote the monster manual should have given them different names,” Gene explained, walking up to the wolf. 

Djinn sighed. “Then just a destructive, wild animal. It will not be terrorizing the village below its cave anymore, at least. Although, I am thinking the reward they offered is quite high… We won’t be taking all of it,” the wolf stated as he gazed over the unmoving beast. 

Gene gave a smile at Djinn’s comment. He expected as much from his partner. Sometimes the towns needing help from monsters were so desperate they offered every single cent they had as a reward. Djinn never took advantage of that. 

“So maybe… Not taking all the reward, but how about seeing how long they’ll let us stay for free at that cool inn with the big pool? Maybe?” Gene suggested as he nonchalantly rocked back and forth on his heels.

"Yes, of course," Djinn chuckled lightly, amused.

Gene squealed excitedly and hugged Djinn’s arm. “Good, good, we could use the upgrade! The ice machine doesn’t even work where we’re at now,” he complained, giving Djinn’s arm an extra squeeze. His bill wrinkled as he looked over the dead manticore. “So, how do we show them we got the job done?”

“That is what I am trying to figure out. The quills are far too poisonous, so it cannot be that. Perhaps a paw?” Djinn suggested. 

Gene made an uncomfortable face, imagining the gory mess from the warrior slicing and cutting off the dead monster’s leg. 

Djinn looked down, noticing the duck’s expression. He could guess what it meant without Gene saying anything. “Just a toe then?”

“These are modern times, Djinn! Maybe take a picture with your phone?” Gene suggested. He released his partner’s arm, but stayed at his side. 

Djinn reached inside his robe, and pulled out the small but thick phone. An old and outdated model, Gene had only seen Djinn use it on a few rare occasions.

“I am not quite sure how to take a picture with this. It is a feature I never had a reason to use before,” Djinn explained, looking over the screen and pushing a few buttons. He actually wasn’t sure it could even take pictures. 

“Here, here, let me see!” Gene reached up with a grabby hand motion until Djinn willingly handed the phone over to him. The duck quickly flipped through pixelated menus on the device and found the camera option. He may have been a few thousand years old entity, but Gene had already learned modern technology rather fast. “There! C’mon, selfie time!”

The former genie made a selfie stick appear on the phone so he could get it posed for a wide angle shot that included them both before taking a few pictures. Gene hopped for each shot so his short stature didn’t hinder the angle. Every picture he took had Djinn with a slightly surprised look on his face. 

“Gene, you shouldn’t use your powers for menial things,” the wolf said. He didn’t use a scolding tone, but more restating a concern.

“I know, I know. In case it’s only a limited amount. But, ah-- It really doesn’t feel like it is, though,” Gene replied as he took the phone off the stick; it disappeared in a flash. “Sometimes you have to have a little fun!”

“My ancestor did not have his powers when he was freed. I am just concerned yours may run out, and you should save it for emergencies,” the wolf stated, an argument he’d made repeatedly in the past. 

Before Gene could respond with a counterpoint, the monster behind them groaned. Both stiffened, surprised.

The monster was still. Very, very dead; the wound Djinn inflicted had been fatal. The wolf gave a sigh. “It is dead. I have seen this before-- the body is ‘cooling down’, since it is no longer alive. It is just settling. Like an old house.”

“Very unsettling, if you ask me,” Gene added. There was slight movement from the dead manticore that could only be described as tense muscles relaxing. 

The tail--a ball of quills at the end--then shifted. Djinn’s eyes widened a moment before he grabbed Gene’s arm. He turned his back to the dead beast and covered his smaller companion's body. Gene looked shocked, didn’t understand what was going on.

In that split second, Djinn realized his mistake. While he was swift and fast in the fight with the manticore so it could not use its deadly tail, he had not realized until now it was like leaving an undetonated bomb soon to go off.

It felt more like a gust of wind had blown through the cavern. It knocked both Djinn and Gene down. The wolf still had his back to the dead beast while they tumbled, his partner pinned underneath him. Gene closed his eyes from the force until things settled. The breeze, however, had been the blast of the tail quills being fired in all directions. 

The former genie peeked one eye open to see the point of one of the manticore quills touching a single feather on this shoulder, but luckily not penetrating his skin. He sighed, deeply relieved.

When Gene opened his other eye he had expected to see Djinn posed like some hero in a medieval period movie. When the brave knight caught an arrow with his bare hand, except Djinn would have a manticore quill caught in a fist before it could hit Gene. When his vision focused, he saw Djinn shaking as he still had Gene defensively covered and pinned to the ground. 

The point of the quill that had almost hit Gene had actually gone clean through his protector’s shoulder. 

“Faris!” Gene squeaked in panic. The duck’s hands went to Djinn’s chest, worried the warrior might just collapse on top of him, and the quill would go through his shoulder as well. The former genie didn’t want to look directly at the wound, but he could see the larger part over Djinn’s shoulder. The backside was wider with a bit of the manticore’s dead flesh attached to it, much like when a bee lost its stinger. “Faris, are you okay? Of course you’re not! Wh-what should I do?”

On trembling arms, Djinn raised himself up so the quill could not pierce Gene. His voice was shaky, like he could pass out at any moment. “D-don’t take it out… it-- it will be worse if you do,” he stammered.

Gene didn’t want to imagine how much venom the quill had contained. It looked like Djinn was withering right before his eyes. “Faris, what do I do?!” he asked.

“Hotel… C-cold water... Ice water… for fever…” Djinn struggled to remain sitting. His head rolled back before he went fully limp.

"Faris!" Gene cried, voice cracking. "Okay, okay... ice... Okay… ice. I'll get us back to the hotel."

Gene avoided the stinger as he put his arms around Djinn's waist. He closed his eyes tight, and he strained to remember how to teleport. Sure, after he’d been freed he could teleport across a room (often for comedic effect), however, he had not attempted anything farther than that. 

He squeezed his eyes even harder. Gene tried to picture where he wanted to go, but only got the genie equivalent of “GPS connection lost.”

"No, no, no! After all those times you told me to save my magic for emergencies, and now I can't-- I can't…" The former genie tightened his grip around his warrior. He sobbed heavily, tears soaking the wolf's robe. He could feel Djinn's heart still beating. 

Gene took a deep breath, like he’d been underwater too long and just came up for air. "C’mon, focus, Gene. Focus."

He remembered the hotel room, the walk to the lobby, the ride out to the ruins. The small town they passed. The speed Djinn was going. 

Gene's breath quickened. He squeezed Djinn as tight as physically possible. He pictured the road sign that told them how many kilometers they were from the city they left. The bike stopped. Parked. How long it took to walk into the beast’s nest. Gene knew he had to do this successfully to save Djinn’s life. He held back more tears as he tried to concentrate. 

"Here goes nothing," Gene sniffled loudly, "shabooy!"

He was still holding onto Djinn when they slid on the hotel bathroom floor. The wolf’s back crashed against the side of the toilet. Gene didn’t even register their surroundings. He struggled to get Djinn into the tub, avoiding the stinger. 

Despite all the ruckus, Djinn was still unconscious. Gene, after a series of lifts and grunts, managed to prop the wolf up in the tub. “Okay, okay, okay-- ice, ice.”

Gene waved his arms over the tub to see what he could summon. Instead of ice appearing over Djinn’s prone body, there was a loud thunk from outside. Gene tilted his head back enough to see out the bathroom door. The hotel’s ice maker had crashed on top of one of the beds. It looked like it’d taken a long fall, now cracked open and spilling ice cubes.

The former genie wasn’t even going to question how exactly he did that. He fetched the bucket, dumping the tub top to bottom with the ice. Djinn didn’t get the chance to tell Gene exactly where the ice needed to go.

Gene wrapped some cubes up in a towel and put it on the canine’s forehead as well. “Keep him cool, because… slows down the venom? Keeps it from getting worse? Makes the fever or venom go away maybe?”

Gene gave Djinn a look of utter helplessness. He banged his own head with a fist, hissed, “Think, think, think... What did people do about manticore venom back in the day… c’mon, c’mon. I can’t lose him. I can’t… I...”

He was pretty sure the ‘medical’ verdict was nothing could be done. But what if there were treatments found since the last time the former genie had to deal with a manticore? It had been hundreds of years, after all. Djinn was from a family of warriors that trained to fight monsters. Djinn sounded like he knew more, knew what to do, but he was out cold.

Gene just stared at Djinn. It was a long moment, like he was hoping the warrior could still tell him what he needed to do next. “Wait, wait... Family of fighters-- uh, hmmm… okay, okay,” he said, suddenly realizing something.

After wiping his teary eyes on his sleeves, Gene reached inside Djinn’s robe and pulled out his cell phone. It was wet from the ice but seemed unaffected. The device was pretty much a brick with G3. Gene held back sniffles as he went through the phone. 

Last person Djinn had called and texted was labeled Jadati Djinn. It looked like they’d just talked yesterday, too. Gene took a deep breath to calm down then hit the button to dial.


End file.
